MARTIAL! makes R&B that sounds like late-night honesty with Y2K neon bleeding through the blinds. But the real story is how he got here. He’s the guy who learned to be an artist by trusting his ear, backing his taste, and refusing to let the industry’s bad habits harden his heart.
He grew up loving things people used to clown: MapleStory, Supernatural reruns, old kung fu movies. The stuff that felt “uncool” back then is the exact palette he’s pulling from now. It’s the color grade on his visuals, the pacing in his edits, even the way his melodies lean cinematic before they turn intimate. That’s the point for him — take what actually shaped you, stop hiding it, and build around it until it feels iconic.
The new single “BAGGAGE” lands right in that sweet spot. On the surface it sounds like empowerment — big drums, distorted bass, room for the voice to cut through — but he wrote it from watching how people get jaded in the industry. The favors with strings. The way someone’s weight ends up on your shoulders while you’re trying to climb. He isn’t preaching; he’s documenting. That everyday calculation in LA where you know someone’s getting played, but you’ve got your own rent, your own deadlines, your own dreams. “BAGGAGE” is him naming it so it doesn’t quietly shape him.
Everything about his process is DIY and intentional. It starts at a piano, humming melodies, catching the feeling before the polish. Then it moves to Ableton, where he builds the world out — hard-hitting drums for urgency, grit in the low end so the record thumps, then pockets of air so he can actually sing. He’s fully self-produced and self-recorded, but he’s not precious about feedback. There’s an engineer in his corner who sharpened his ear, the last listen before the song leaves the house. It’s craft, not chaos.
Sonically and visually, this is the first drop in a run of singles centered on Y2K. Think modern R&B with a Tommy Richman bounce and a Brent Faiyaz cool, but filtered through his own references: game-room glow, martial-arts posters, the charm of early internet graphics. It’s a brand direction that finally feels honest — not a costume, just the kid he was, amplified.
And it’s working. “BAGGAGE” is the best-performing record he’s released, and the response to the visuals has been loud in the right ways. No label machine, no big budget — just him and a friend pushing for major-label quality with almost zero dollars and a lot of stubbornness. Two dudes, a plan, and a belief that consistency beats access.
This is just the beginning for MARTIAL!, but you can already see the map. Piano to Ableton. Bedroom to big speakers. Childhood obsessions to full-blown aesthetic. R&B vocals floating over drums that move a room. A small team acting like a large one. And a promise baked into every release: he’s not only dropping songs, he’s building a universe you can live in.
Listen to MARTIAL here: https://ffm.to/martialbaggage
© 2025, Harry James. All rights reserved.
